Over 70,000
children are ‘looked after’ by local authorities in England and Wales. Emerging
research suggests that a significant proportion of their birth parents have
either already lost a child to permanent adoption or will go on to lose others.
These ‘repeat loss’ cases raise difficult questions about marginalized mothers
and their reproductive autonomy. This article considers past and present
tactics used by the state in its attempts to limit that autonomy, including
institutionalization, sterilization, long‐acting contraception, and permanent
adoption. It argues that the gradual democratization of intimate citizenship
over the past century, defined as a person's ability to choose and direct their
intimate relationships, has obliged the contemporary state to develop new
tactics which aim to build personal capacity and to balance enhanced child
protection with enhanced reproductive autonomy.